SOCITM (Society of Information Technology Management)
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Rapid growth in use of mobiles a major challenge for local government websites says Better connected 2014
Results from the latest Better connected survey of council website performance suggest that council websites need to move faster to accommodate the rapid growth in the use of mobiles to access online services. Socitm’s Website performance service shows that these grew during 2013 to average 31%.
This is the first year that testing of website performance on mobile devices has been fully incorporated into the Better connected assessment, published this year on 3 March. Four of the 14 top tasks tested for the 2014 survey were done so exclusively on mobile devices with 126 sites (31%) passing the Better connected standard for mobile access.
On average, results from tasks tested on mobiles were half as good as those tested on desktop devices, indicating that councils are currently finding it difficult to match the quality of experience on the desktop with that on mobile devices.
Incorporation of testing on mobiles and lower scores in accessibility testing has led to Better connected results overall showing a decline in performance compared with 2013. Only 31 sites achieved four stars (39 in 2013) and 157 achieved three stars (165 in 2013).
These results are consistent with results from Socitm’s Website performance service which recorded a decline in visitor satisfaction of 12% in 2013 compared with the previous year.
Better connected 2014 is available to Socitm Insight subscribers from 3 March 2014, together with supporting spreadsheets. Non-subscribers will be able to buy a printed version of the report at a cost of £495 (£450 for Socitm members in non-subscribing organisations).
